Taste Buds With Deb Jewish Journal

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Chico Menashe, the CEO of Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel in Tel Aviv. Founded in 2021, Asif is a non-profit organization, dedicated to cultivating and nurturing Israel’s diverse and creative food culture. 
 
“It's an Israeli food culture, not specifically Jewish culture,” Menashe says. “We have influences from all over the world.”
 
Menashe talks about Israeli food and cooking with chutzpah. He also shares stories from Asif’s Open Kitchen Project, where Israeli locals open their homes to people who have been displaced by the war and need a place to cook. The Open Kitchen Project connects individuals, families and communities. 
 
“The [recipes and stories] that we recognize that bring special cultural, traditional value we put on our website,” he adds. “It's an online treasure box of families’ unique recipes with their stories, with their traditions, with their heritage.”
 
Get the recipes for Sylvie Atias’s Stuffed Artichokes and Lizi Ezra’s Veal Sweetbread Stew, along with the highlights from the conversation, at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. To learn more about Asif’s initiatives and read more recipes and backstories, go to Asif.org. Asif is a partner organization of the Jewish Food Society. For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Beth Lee, author of “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook,” cooking teacher and OG food blogger at OMGYummy.com.
 
Lee worked in marketing and communications for high tech companies in Silicon Valley for many years before deciding in 2010 that she liked “pita chips better than memory chips.” She was delighted when she got the url OMGYummy.com. While initially Lee didn’t know what to do with it, she dug in, figured out blogging/social media, and never looked back. 
 
Lee talks about her origin story, food from eclectic cultures, exciting flavors, and more. She also shares her love of preserved lemons. “They're an amazing ingredient,” she says. “I encourage everybody to take a lemon, put a slit in it, put some salt in it, stick it in a jar and wait for it to become a preserved lemon.” 
 
Not only will preserved lemons change your life, Lee predicts they will become your new favorite condiment. Get the recipe at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. 
 
To learn more about Beth Lee and get more recipes go to OMGYummy.com and follow @OMGYummy on Instagram. 
 
For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Shani Seidman, Chief Marketing Officer for Kayco Kosher. Kayco’s brands include Gefen, Heaven & Earth and of course Manischewitz, which has been around since 1888.
 
“They call me Mrs. Manischewitz. ... It’s surreal working on a brand that we had at our table growing up,” Seidman says. “I have these memories of Manischewitz being at my Passover seder or making Manischewitz chicken soup with my grandmother.” 
 
Seidman talks about her experience working for Kayco and Manischewitz’s recent rebrand, as well as Passover memories, food traditions, and Amy Kritzer Becker’s recipe for Asparagus Tomato Matzo Brei. Get Amy’s recipe and read the article at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. 

To connect with the company and get more recipes go to Manischewitz.com or follow @manischewitzco on social media.  For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with cookbook author Joan Nathan, who has made a career of discovering Jewish cuisine from around the world and sharing it with others. 
 
The author of twelve books, Nathan’s titles include “Jewish Cooking in America” and “The New American Cooking,” both of which won James Beard Awards and IACP Awards, 
 
Her latest - and she says her last - book is, “My Life in Recipes: Food, Family and Memories.” Nathan hopes her memoir is an inspiration for others to live a good life. 
 
“I think it’s the most important thing I want to teach people,” she says. 
 
With more than 100 recipes, along with the memories attached to them, “My Life in Recipes” includes updated versions of old favorites (matzoh ball soup to challah and brisket) and new ones too (salmon with preserved lemon and za’atar; Moroccan chicken with almonds, cinnamon and couscous). You do not want to read this book - or listen to this podcast - when you are hungry. 
 
Nathan offers a sneak peek into her culinary adventures and discoveries. She talks about her love of food, creative cooking, and the different ways meals connect people. Nathan also shares her recipe for Passover Pecan Lemon Torte with Lemon Curd Filling. Note: The lemon curd is amazing and the recipe can - and should - be enjoyed year round. 
 
Get the recipe and read the article at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. To learn more about “My Life in Recipes” - and Joan Nathan’s upcoming events - go to JoanNathan.com.  For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.
 

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Joel Haber, food lecturer and host of the 18 Jewish Foods” podcast. His website is TasteofJew.com.
 
“[Food] offers you a window into the Jewish culture,” he says. 
 
Each episode of Haber’s new “18 Jewish Foods” podcast explores a food, food category or iconic dish. “Each episode will … also [offer] something to learn about the Jewish people,” Haber explains. “There's a short interview, as well of somebody contemporary who's connected with that food to show that these foods are still alive now and are taking on new faces all the time.”
 
Haber shares his backstory, how he defines Jewish foods, his love of Israel flavors, and more. He also shares his recipe for Hamin Kharshuf, also known as Chulent. 
 
Get the recipe and read the article at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.
 

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Katie Workman, founder of The Mom 100 website, author of “The Mom 100 Cookbook” and “Dinner Solved,” and a food writer for the Associated Press.
 
Workman spent her childhood reading cookbooks the way others devour books. She created “The Mom 100 Cookbook” - 100 recipes every mom needs in her back pocket - as “an answer to the everyday cooking challenges, conundrums that parents face, day-in day-out when they're cooking for their families,” Workman says.
 
Workman talks about her origin story and food philanthropy work, as well as her love of comfort food and finding your food soul mates. “I love food that the first time that you eat it, you think, ‘Oh, where has this been all my life?’” she says.  Workman also shares her recipe for ground turkey tacos; her family’s favorite. Get the recipe and read the article at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more about Katie Workman at TheMom100.com. For more from Taste Buds, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.